Reimagining Reissued RC cars

[TokyoProf]

How would you reimagine reissued RC cars if you had a say in production and development at an RC company?

I had one idea that involved keeping the same dimensions, body, and mechanical basics of the original (trailing arm, or three gear tranmission, or midship motor, etc.), but revising everything else to modernize and make raceworthy an old-design.
The revised Tamiya Hornet comes to mind. Although the front dimensions are wider than the original, the effort toward enhancing raceworthiness was a great idea from Tamiya. Don't stop there. Bring it to other buggies Tamiya.
Would be neat to have reissued Terrascorcher, Vanquish, etc. but modernized for durability and performance. Imagine rear toe-in, kick-up, slipper, lipo-compatible, with modernized materials in problem areas.
Increasing the performance of old-school buggies by 25-50% would be plenty. Maybe a limited edition "Fan-Series" tribute model that integrates the ideas/designs of innovative consumers.
Humble vintage RC comes to mind with his Grasshopper improvement ideas. Bringing to life cool ideas in a reissue "special edition" series is an idea worth considering...

[TRX-1-3]

I would imagine the entire TRX Pro series (Eagle thru SRT, and TRX-1 thru TCP) as being re-released. Although that Eagle chassis might be hard to duplicate. But with every hopup (from across the aftermarket) in the box.

[JosephS]

How would you reimagine reissued RC cars if you had a say in production and development at an RC company?

I had one idea that involved keeping the same dimensions, body, and mechanical basics of the original (trailing arm, or three gear tranmission, or midship motor, etc.), but revising everything else to modernize and make raceworthy an old-design.
The revised Tamiya Hornet comes to mind. Although the front dimensions are wider than the original, the effort toward enhancing raceworthiness was a great idea from Tamiya. Don't stop there. Bring it to other buggies Tamiya.
Would be neat to have reissued Terrascorcher, Vanquish, etc. but modernized for durability and performance. Imagine rear toe-in, kick-up, slipper, lipo-compatible, with modernized materials in problem areas.
Increasing the performance of old-school buggies by 25-50% would be plenty. Maybe a limited edition "Fan-Series" tribute model that integrates the ideas/designs of innovative consumers.
Humble vintage RC comes to mind with his Grasshopper improvement ideas. Bringing to life cool ideas in a reissue "special edition" series is an idea worth considering...

I'd almost go the other way and lean into aesthetics. Have really great looking boxes, manuals, blister packing to display even just the open box.
The old cars are not competitive because the tracks changed. It's a pretty big redesign to make a rear motor car handle the same as a mid motor car on carpet.

[kandkhobby13]

I guess the first thing I would like to happen, is to make parts for the cars (where possible) to have indicators to where it is known that it is a new part. That could either be markings, color shades, material, etc., this way it would not create the issue of re-sellers trying to scam people or lie saying something is vintage, but in reality is a new part and also devalue vintage parts or cars themselves. I would also try to stay true to the original kit, but tweak it in places where necessary to be able to run modern electronics and more suitable for modern tracks. If you wanted the kit to stay exactly true to the original, you could have option parts available to make them more race worthy for modern applications, to where they get around the track better.

don't get me wrong I love the AE re-re's and I have most of them, but I like what Kyosho has done with their vintage kits. Some models they have stayed more true the original, and on other models they have used what were option parts back in the day as standard parts on the re-release. They have also tweaked a few things (like belt tensioners and different gears for example) to make them more capable of handling modern electronics and modern racing conditions.

[RCveteran]

The Kyosho approach is the right way. True to the original but updated just enough with modern slippers, and other nits and nats to make them more reliable in dealing with modern batteries and electronics etc. None of the rere's are exacts of original anyways so who cares. For what they are charging for instance for the current RC10's (I have them so not a hater) I think a little more effort could have been put in.

Want an original, go find one, if I am plunking down modern car money for a 40 year old design seems a few little updates are warranted. Time marches on and nothing stays the same. Now I need to dust off some vinyl.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qoKZ_RpfmQ

[TokyoProf]

The Kyosho approach is the right way. True to the original but updated just enough with modern slippers, and other nits and nats to make them more reliable in dealing with modern batteries and electronics etc. None of the rere's are exacts of original anyways so who cares. For what they are charging for instance for the current RC10's (I have them so not a hater) I think a little more effort could have been put in.
Want an original, go find one, if I am plunking down modern car money for a 40 year old design seems a few little updates are warranted. Time marches on and nothing stays the same. Now I need to dust off some vinyl.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qoKZ_RpfmQ

Looking vintage and cool never wins in the case of Tamiya. I always wished a Tamiya looking buggy from the mid to late 80s could "hang" even for one lap with the big boy race companies. Give me more of the "evolved/evolution" of the original design to keep the fun/driveable factor high while still looking cool. In other words, give us an Egress EVO, Terra Scorcher EVO, Hotshot Evo, etc, that looks cool and makes me smile while driving it on the track. Instead of being lapped twice by a comparable YZ10 today, the feeling of keeping up on the same lap with updated vintage design would be satisfying.

The Jamie Booth Egress won the "I main" at the IFMAR Worlds in 1989. That shitty result made me proud lol, because it actually won something and still had the basic DNA of an Avante/Egress. Forget the Egress Black Edition, Give us an Egress EVO edition with an updated Worlds Egress used by the TRF drivers back then. A Terra Scorcher EVO focusing on revised suspension dynamics would be both fast and fun on a tight race circuit today.

I agree with you that Kyosho has approached the reissue models very well (probably the best). Iconic body and mechanical designs with updates to make the platform relevant and durable today. It gets older vintage guys to pay the big bucks again. I love Tamiya bodies and the limitations of their chassis designs actually. However, when you advertise Tamiya Grasshoppers as "High-performance off-road racer" that is misleading. If I was a 5th grader looking at Tamiya RC buggies in 2025, between the Hornet EVO and the original Hornet, I choose the EVO. As an adult I would buy both to compare the two of course.

[Frankentruck]

I think Pro Line needs to get in on the re-re business. All the old buggy tire options... and the truck tire options! I'm working on cleaning up a set of Trac Ta Gator tires. I just love a set of aggressive spiked tires.

[ZED32]

Rere tires would be a godsend. So many old designs look good (and pwrform well) but are near impossible to get ahold of for a reasonable price.